Catalonia Gets Autonomy

　　Catalonia is one of the wealthiest regions in Spain and within the past few hours its people have endorsed a plan to give it greater autonomy than ever - independence in all but name. The Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero welcomed the result of the referendum on the new statute in Catalonia, in the north east of the country, which gives it sweeping new powers to run its own affairs. The referendum has inflamed passions around Spain and the leader of the main opposition party, Mariano Rajoy, has called it a destructive process. I've just been speaking to our correspondent at the regional parliament, in Barcelona, Danny Wood:

　　Well nearly all of the ballots counted, results show that seventy-five percent of voters have supported the greater-autonomy plan and nearly twenty percent have rejected it - a healthy majority for the "yes" vote but, as expected, turnout has been low. Only half of Catalonia's eligible voters have actually bothered to get out and cast their ballot.

　　What's the significance of that low turn out? Will it actually be a binding document?

　　Well, this will be a binding document because it has actually already been through the Catalan regional parliament. It was approved there and it's also been approved earlier this year in Spain's national parliament. So regardless of this low turn out, which would imply it doesn't have such a strong mandate, it is legally binding and so these powers will be coming to Catalonia.

　　And does the low turn out suggest that there's a big gap between the aspirations of politicians and the feelings of the voting public?

　　It does suggest that. The surprising thing here talking to the people on the streets of Barcelona is how few of them seemed particularly excited about this autonomy plan. They were obviously interested in the politics of their country but they have simply been bored if you like by this autonomy plan and that explains the low turn out.

　　Danny Wood speaking to me from Barcelona.

单词注释：
endorse [in5dC:s] vt. 认可，赞同
eligible [5elidVEbl ] adj. 合格的
turn out 投票
mandate [5mAndeit ] n. 命令，契约

加泰隆尼亚获得自治

　　加泰隆尼亚是西班牙最富裕的地区之一，在过去的几个小时之内，这儿的人民通过的一项提议将给予他们更大的自治权--除了地名之外其它所有的都将独立。西班牙总理何塞·路易斯·罗德里格斯·萨帕特罗对在东北部加泰隆尼亚进行公投结果表示满意。公投针对的新法规是给这儿的人民清除障碍，让他们自己去处理自己的事务。但这一公投在西班牙其它地区引起不满，主要的反对党领导人马里亚诺·拉霍伊称之为一个破坏性的步骤。连线我们在巴塞罗那地方议会的通讯记者，丹妮·伍德：

　　几乎所有的选票都被统计在内，结果显示有75%的投票者支持扩大自治计划，有将近20%的人反对。虽然投赞成票的比例很大，但参与投票的人数比预期的要少。一半的加泰隆尼亚的合格选民不愿意参与而放弃了选票。

　　这么低的投票率意味着什么呢？它真的会成为有约束力的文件吗？

　　这将会是一个有约束力的文件，因为它已经获得加泰隆尼亚地方议会通过，并于年初在西班牙国会被批准。因此，尽管这样低的投票率表示它并不具有很强的强制力，但它还是有法律效力，所以这些权力也会给予加泰隆尼亚。

　　另外，如此低的投票率是否表示在政治人物的期望和选举民众的想法之间有很大差距呢？

　　它确实表明了这一点。令人惊讶的是，在巴塞罗那大街上和人们谈论这件事，很少有人看起来对这一自治计划特别兴奋。他们显然对自己国家的政治感兴趣，但是他们已经厌倦了被问及是否喜欢这个自治计划，或是给这样低的投票结果作出一些解释。

　　丹妮·伍德从巴塞罗与我的连线报道。